What to eat?

Agutka

Here's a challenge for you wise people.
My kitchen is gone, we have rooms bare of furniture and stupidly dusty, everywhere else is packed with important items. Bit of re-decoration going on you see.
Therefore - I have nowhere to cook or to prepare food. We have found a little space for a kettle (!) and am hoping OH can plug the microwave in. Bad planning I suppose...
We have been eating out, take outs and pot noodles. Yesterday my mum said, why don't you make sandwiches, which I will attempt today, but having only one plate out and the bed as a dining room and prep area is far from ideal.
Should we just live with it or is there anything I can do.
The house won't be back to normal for at least another week or two.

Bunnie1982

Have you got a camp stove or can you get hold of a cheap camp stove at all? That way you could heat up beans, pasta, rice, etc.

Salads are a good alternative. I don't think that Gazpacho requires cooking.

You could buy a ready cooked chicken from the supermarkets.

lindab15

Do you have a toaster / toastie machine / George Forman grill ?

All of those are petty good for quick hot snacks and fit well in a corner somewhere and can pack away again when cool.

And if you make too many sandwiches, you can have some cold and some hot ...... !

kangamama

Have you got a barbeque? You could buy enough for 1 meal and enjoy it outside while the weather is nice.

Bobbykins

H Agutka....oh memories, memories!

We had no kitchen for 5 months once, when we were building an extension at the old house. We lived from the microwave and takeaways. OH, and I had one of those little single jet gas camping stove thingies. Even my vegetarian daughter got the the stage where she said she would kill for a roast dinner!

So first of all, maybe you could borrow a little camping stove for a couple of weeks? Means you can at least warm up tinned soup, beans etc.

We had a few "staple" meals that we kept rotating (when we weren't having a takeaway)

A bit expensive I know but, here's a list of a few of them.

Big slice of ready made quiche from the deli counter, with microwave chips and salad (if you are really struggling, you could buy ready prepared salad).

Cold sliced meats with packet of savoury rice done either in the microwave or on the camp stove. (usually with an extra tin of peas or sweetcorn chucked in to bulk it out a bit)

If you can get a friend/relative to make you a batch of chilli or spag bol or something that you can heat up in the microwave, you can just serve it with crusty bread.

Pitta breads warmed up in the toaster and stuffed with ready cooked chicken portion and salad.

Oh, I'm sure there must have been lots more. I'll have a think and come back to you on it.

spendaholic

There's a lot you can warm through in a microwave, if you get it plugged in - baked beans, vegetables, soups, ready meals. You can poach eggs or grill bacon (if you have a microwave bacon griller). You can make sandwiches. You can get buffet food from the supermarket - chicken pieces, quiches, pork pies, scotch eggs, cooked sausage. With the kettle you can make cup a soups. You can get pies from the bakery and stick those in the microwave, and get some Smash or other instant potato. You can make instant custard with the kettle, or you can get ready made custard in tins and cartons. You can get Aunt Bessie's steamed puddings, and Heinz steamed puddings, and cook them in the microwave, then add the custard or tinned cream or fresh cream. You can make jellies and have that with ice cream or cream. Do you have a toaster? You can get bags to to pop a sandwich in the toaster and have a toastie without ruining your elements. Or you can have beans on toast (warm the beans in the microwave). And you can get Pot Noodles and Pot Rice for hot snacks made with a kettle.

I'm currently living without an oven and surviving with just a hob and a microwave and a toaster. I also have sandwich toasters and a grill but they hardly ever come out.

It is possible, but good luck.

Agutka

Thank you for all the ideas. I'm really hungry now!
OH has been asking for a camping stove, but honestly I can't imagine using that instead of the microwave. We have a toaster...somewhere, but no sandwich thingy - I threw it out when packing up the kitchen.
The barbeque was another great idea (esp as Tescos were loudly advertising them at me), but that takes time to prepare and we're busy moving stuff aroundm (she says, when quite obviously she's on the computer...).
I'm going to have to borrow someone's kitchen. Just turn up on their doorstep with ingredients, cook, eat and leave them to wash up . I nearly went looking round the neighbours today, asking to use their showers, except we managed to make a bath at last...

Hmmm...spag bol...

squeaky

Here's a start...

Limited use of kitchen whilst refurb - how to stay OS?

Agutka

All these things I didn't think of. I spent a few hours wandering about our giant Tescos looking for inspiration - stuff that we will eat.
I'm glad I asked the decorators to leave our fridge plugged in outside. I'd be even more useless without that.

Emmzi

Do you have a thermos? You can do pasta in it. (then serve with grated cheese, it'll melt) or stir in pesto.

Thermos also cooks porridge oats (put them in last thing at night for a warm brekkie).

Cous cous only needs a kettle, add olives, sundried tomatoes and feta cheese cubes for a yummy meal.

poodlehorse

I am in a similar boat, Ihaven't had a kitchen or hotwater since May, but I have a kettle, combi microwave and a slowcooker oh and a Remoska. I have found I can manage quite well with this although I am missing mashed spuds on occasion. I think I can cope until I get my kitchen - another few months I think though. Forgot I have a steamer too. I am steaming all my veg and baby potatoes and fish. That helps a lot. I can even "boil" and egg in there and do rice although haven't tried the rice as I boiled heaps and froze it. The remoska is brilliant for doing sausages, chicken etc. The combi microwave is there for baked spuds, pizzas, fish fingers and the like and I can do pasta in a big casserole and just stir over a sauce. And the slowcooker has been used for pot roasts and whole chickens and I did a nice chicken in pineapple concoction the other week. I am lucky that I have all my contraptions as they each are doing a sterling job. As a result we haven't been eating too badly and only had chips about twice and a couple of Indian takeouts. I don't think that is too bad going. Good luck with it all. Think about me when you get your new kitchen in a couple of weeks!!! I will still be boiling a kettle to have a wash. :P